Making A Promise
by Roxius
Summary: When Maki receives a vague and concerning text message from her lover, she hurries to her apartment to meet her, only to find three children asking her to swear her devotion. Maki isn't really sure how to take it, especially when she finds out that they're being serious. And then she meets the mother. New second chapter; currently just a two-shot. NicoMaki. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

It was near the end of the school day that Nishikino Maki happened to receive a rather sudden and oddly vague text message from her girlfriend Yazawa Nico.

'come_ over to my house after school. We need to talk.'_

Punctuation error aside, Maki was not entirely sure what to make of this message, and she thought of replying to ask Nico what exactly she meant, but she knew it would have been a useless effort anyway. Nico wouldn't have been so quick to explain herself, or just pretend that she had no idea what Maki was talking about. Nico liked to keep her secrets and make up her little surprises now and then, probably because she thought it was cute or something, so Maki had begrudgingly accepted to humor her during these attempts such as now. Still, the fact that she felt that they 'needed to talk' struck a worrisome chord for Maki, and now she knew she wouldn't be able to think of anything else but those words until she set foot inside the Yazawa apartment.

There was also something else, in addition to her own personal conflict, that bothered her about the text. Nico had told her that she wouldn't be available to walk home with her or go out to eat tonight, because she was starting a new part-time job at a local retail store. It wasn't a glamorous job for a self-proclaimed 'super idol' like herself, but money was money, and she needed it for her hobbies. Nonetheless, Nico shouldn't even be available at all, yet she sent this text requesting to meet up.

Maki gulped; it must have really been serious. She hadn't seen Nico very much at all earlier that day, there was no idol club meeting or practice scheduled for today either, and she wondered if the third-year was trying to avoid her until they could speak privately. Maki's heart started to pound and she feared what may or may not be waiting for her at Nico's home. She was afraid that it could mean an end to her and Nico's relationship, even as budding as it still was.

As soon as school gave out for the day, Maki barely issued a proper good-bye to Hanayo and Rin before rushing out the door. She would have run all the way to Nico's apartment if she had to, but fortunately there was a bus that could drop her off at a stop nearby.

"Nico?"

Maki rapped her knuckle against the door and called out her girlfriend's name again. She waited for an answer, listening closely. She could hear feet scuffling across the floor and drawing closer to the door, so Maki stepped back for her to open it. However, when the door was unlocked and open, the redhead found herself staring back not at her lover, but at her lover's oldest younger sibling, Yazawa Kokoro. The young girl bowed and even performed a little curtsy to welcome her.

"Nice to meet you again, Miss Nishikino! Hehe, I hope I did my curtsy right, I've been practicing!"

"Ah..." Unsure of how to properly react on her end, Maki simply bowed her head a little. "H-Hello...um...is...is your sister home right now?"

"Nope." Kokoro shook her head.

"Eh? What? But she sent me a text..." Maki held up her phone and pointed at it.

Kokoro shook her head again and proceeded to present a cellphone. Nico's cellphone, to be exact. "I sent the text. My sister forgot to bring her phone to school today."

Maki's jaw dropped.

"I wanted you to come here because my sister, brother and I," Kokoro stepped aside and motioned for Maki to come in, revealing the other Yazawa siblings Kokoa and Kotarou standing there as well. "We wanted to talk to you about your relationship with our sister."

"Our relationship...?" Maki started to blush. No way, she thought, no way, Nico couldn't have actually come out and told them the truth, had she? She was always especially protective of her siblings, and she seemed adamant in keeping them from knowing about the true extant of her relationship with Maki until they were older and able to understand it.

"Yes. It wasn't hard to figure out." Kokoro shook her head.

"We saw the kind of texts you sent each other too! Absolutely filthy, talking to my precious Nico Nico Nii that way! You looking for trouble, bub?" Kokoa called out.

Kokoro let out a sheepish laugh and a groan. "I'm sorry, she accidentally watched a movie about the yakuza last night, and she's been talking this way ever since. Please, come inside. I can prepare some tea for you, if you'd like."

Maki almost felt like she wanted to faint, so much was happening and it was happening too fast for her to catch up in time. "N-No...I don't need tea or anything, thank you...I just want to know what it is you needed to talk to me about..."

Kokoro nodded. "I understand; that would be best, to get right to the matter at hand. We can discuss it in the living room."

Maki followed the younger girl to their living room couch, where the redhead awkwardly helped herself to a seat. She hadn't been in Nico's apartment except for that one time, and it had been with the rest of Muse. To be here as a lone guest made the entire place feel so much bigger and stranger, newer, to her. Kokoro, Kokoa and Kotarou stood before her, all of them looking quite serious.

"We want to talk to you about your relationship with our big sister."

Kokoa snapped her hands to her hips. "Yeah, come clean, we know you two are making secret deals behind closed doors!"

"Chu! Chu!" Kotarou waved his plastic hammer around over his head.

"I...I haven't done anything behind closed doors with her yet...or anything like that..." Maki stumbled about her words like a lost puppy; really, apart from the many after-school dates, she and Nico had only ever kissed five times, maybe six, so far, and that had been privately from the rest of the group. They hadn't done anything more intimate. Maki wasn't sure if she could, but Nico had dropped a few hints. Then Maki realized something.

"Wait, so none of this has to do with what Nico thinks about me? She doesn't want to break up?"

Kokoro gasped. "D-Did I make you think my sister wanted to break up with you...? Oh no! No, no, I didn't mean to do that at all! Nico doesn't want to break up with you, I'm sure of it! She hasn't said anything but nice things about you when she talks about you!"

"So that's how you found out? She did tell you?"

"No, it was...it was sort of obvious, the way she looked when she spoke about you..." Kokoro sheepishly grinned, scratching at her cheek bashfully. "I'm just a kid, but I could tell, from the way she spoke about you and the look on her face, that she really, really liked you a lot."

Maki blushed. This Kokoro girl was quite knowledgeable for her age. Certainly smarter than her dunderhead of a third-year girlfriend, that was for sure.

"Hey now! We're getting off-track here! We're not here to sit around and swap stories all day! Tell her what you need to tell her!" Kokoa barked at her older sister, clearly enjoying playing the role of the 'bad cop' as it were.

Kotarou waved his hammer again. "Tell."

"Yes, you're both quite right." Kokoro nodded to the two, and then looked back to Maki, "We asked you to come here because we wanted to tell that we...we are very happy that our sister is dating you. Or I mean, because you're dating our sister!"

Maki's eyes widened. "Really? Nico didn't put you up to this, did she?"

"N-No! She has no idea! We hid her cellphone from her this morning just so we could contact you!"

"Oh..."

"Tell it to her straight!" Kokoa demanded, and Kokoro took a deep breath.

"Yes. Our sister tries very hard for our sakes, to wear a bright smile and cheer us up when we're feeling down, to take care of us while our mother works almost every day. But she's human too, and even though we can keep her company at home, it's still not enough, because she needs someone who can be more than a friend or a family member to her. She needs love! Lots of it! She can always cheer everyone up with her super awesome and super cute super idol-ness, but if there's no one to cheer her up in return, then that's not fair at all! She deserves all of the happiness in the world! That's where you come in, Miss Nishikino!"

Kokoa and Kotarou briskly nodded their heads to prove their mutual agreement with their sister.

"So that's why we want you and Nico to stay together! Please! We implore you!"

Maki really couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was enough to send a ringing sensation through her ear-drums and for her whole body to break out into a cold, uncomfortable sweat. Kokoro's words made her cringe, they made her want to hide her searing-hot face in her hands, they made her want to sink in between the couch cushions and huddle there in fetal position between all of the dust bunnies and lost pocket change for the rest of eternity, if only it meant allowing her to leave this absolutely embarrassing reality of life she was experiencing right now. Kokoro's words were so sappy, so corny, so undeniably cute and positively Nico-like in every way that Maki wasn't sure if her poor brain, or her poor heart, could handle listening to anything else they might have had to say. She might just suffer a heart attack before they were through. Yet...she was a little touched too.

"We also wanted to let you know that we want to ensure you treat her well, like she deserves to be treated. We're asking you to be the best girlfriend that you can be. We're sure you're doing a good job right now as it is, but it doesn't take anything away to ask this of you. If you broke her heart-"

"We'd send ya sleeping with the fishes!" Kokoa exclaimed.

"Bonk! Bonk!" Kotarou brought his toy hammer down several times, like a judge announcing his verdict.

Kokoro waved them off. "W-We would be very disappointed, basically. So please, don't make Nico sad."

That was much better, in the redhead's opinion. These girls, and boy, were simply being honest in their feelings for their beloved big sister. Maki couldn't help but admire and appreciate that.

Maki, feeling quite driven, moved with impressive speed as she lunged forward, bent down on one knee (it looked good, but it was mostly because she nearly tripped getting off of the couch so fast), and took Kokoro's tiny hands into her own, a move that stunned the younger girl, who began flushing bright-red from across her cheeks. Maki managed to suppress the intense desire to put on her usual tsundere act and she stared, her expression stern but honest, into Kokoro's eyes.

"I promise that I won't ever let Nico be hurt by me or anyone else in this world." Maki swore on her life. "I'll love her for everything that she is, even if she's sometimes a little...ahem, forget that. What I mean is, I won't ever hurt her, no matter what happens. I don't want to see her smile disappear, it means just as much to me to see it every day as it does for you three. I'll love her for as long as we're together, and I intend to make that be a very, very long time. She's my idol too...!"

"Ah!"

Kokoro's little heart was pounding against her rib-cage at what felt like a thousand beats every five seconds. She could tell that Maki was true to her word, she had already known that from the start, but she was solidly convinced upon seeing that look in her eyes as she spoke these words of devotion. However, this caused a whole new sort of problem for the innocent girl. She might just be falling in love with Maki right now herself. This was going to complicate things, or so she fearfully believed.

Maki sighed; now SHE was becoming the sappy one. In fact, she almost wanted to spew another obnoxious line similar to 'I'll take on the family business to be a doctor to fix Nico's heart if it was ever broken', or something of that nature.

"Did we just witness that?" Kokoa asked her little brother.

Kotarou shrugged.

Suddenly, the front door of the apartment opened with a click and a creak. A very familiar voice called out.

"Kokoro! Kokoa! Kotarou! I know I said I would be home late today, but I had to come back home to get my phone. I forgot it here this morning! Hello?"

"Sister!" The three Yazawa siblings hurried to go and properly greet their beloved older sister, but Maki was left behind, alone and unsure of her next actions. She could hide out until Nico left before heading home herself, or go out there to the front hall and brazenly admit that she had been having a private conversation with her girlfriend's three siblings about the factors of their relationship. Really, there might not have been a choice at all, just a single option. She was still feeling a bit jittery after that heart-to-heart too.

Maki stood up and left the room. Nico nearly flew out of her socks when she saw her first-year girlfriend striding toward her.

"Hello, Nico,"

"M-Maki! What are you doing here? Why are you in my house? Kokoro, did you let her in? Maki, really, what are you doing here...?"

Maki took the phone out of Kokoro's hand, placed it into Nico's open palm, and gave her, right in front of the three children, a feathery light kiss on the lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school and for practice, and we better go out somewhere good for our after-school dinner date, okay? Fast food isn't good for either of us to be eating all the time." Maki told her in hushed tones.

"Buh...Mah..." Nico was at a loss for words.

Maki gave Nico a pat on the shoulder and bid the three siblings farewell. For some reason, Kokoro appeared a little teary-eyed, but she didn't stop to ask her what was wrong.

The redhead only managed to make it as far as the bus-stop before she dropped to her knees and clutched her head in her hands, squealing in humiliation.

'I can't believe I just did all of that...! Grabbing Kokoro's hands, making that promise, kissing Nico RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! Augh!'

In the end, a tsundere was still a tsundere.


	2. Chapter 2

It took about a minute before she could regather herself again. Maki raised her head just in time as the afternoon bus slowed down to a crawl before stopping completely, ready to pick her up and return her home. The redhead heaved a sigh.

'Well, I did it...even though I shouldn't have...and Nico is going to be real mad at me next time we see each other...but I probably deserve the reprimand. Ugh! Right now I just want to get home, take a shower, and do my homework! I'll worry about everything else at school tomorrow!'

Maki stepped toward the open bus doors, but stopped upon seeing that someone was getting off first. That person so happened to be Nico's mother. Their eyes locked almost immediately.

"Ah."

"Ah!"

"Oh! You're Nishikino Maki from my daughter's idol group, aren't you?" Nico's mother exclaimed.

"Gah...uh, h-hello, ma'am..." The color steadily drained itself from the first-year's face. As if dealing with Nico's hyperactive little sisters and brother wasn't enough today...she must have done something really terrible to piss off the Gods so much. She bowed her head slightly to show her respect to the adult in front of her. Nico's mother smiled. Maki blushed, realizing she shouldn't have looked at that smile; it was too similar to Nico's. Way too cute.

"How are you?"

"I'm...fine..."

"I assume you need to take this bus right now, do you?" Nico's mother asked.

Maki dumbly nodded her head.

"Can I ask you something quickly first?"

Maki, like a fool, nodded her head again.

"You're the one who's dating my daughter, aren't you?"

Maki could have sworn she felt a vein pop in her head just then. "...Uh..."

"My daughter isn't very good at hiding things; when she started looking much happier around the house, I had a feeling that you had something to do with it. She talks about you more than anyone else she knows from school."

"You...you think I'm dating her...?" Maki stammered. For someone who had said she wanted to keep their relationship a secret right now from the people closest to her, Nico was rather terrible at doing so, Maki thought. She felt like she needed to give her a bit of a chewing-out tomorrow too.

"Aren't you?" Nico's mother asked.

Maki looked down at the ground. "...Yes, I am, ma'am."

"I don't think we've gotten to speak face to face like this before, but I've seen your performances with Nico and the others. You're quite a good dancer and singer, although I do think you like to shake your rear a little too often."

Maki was sorely beginning to miss Kokoro's agonizingly corny speeches about love right now.

"However, I'm sorry, I'm not here to critique your performing abilities. I know you have to go, and I didn't expect we would even run into each other, but I wish to say something first. I didn't know if I would ever have the chance to say it to you, so I want to take this opportunity to finally tell you."

Maki gulped. "Y-Yes...?"

Nico's mother bowed her head. "Thank you for making my daughter happy, and I sincerely hope that you continue to do so."

For a brief moment, Maki was left speechless. "You...you don't care if we're both girls...?"

"Well, I WAS hoping to have grandchildren one day, but my daughter's happiness is more important than what I want from her. I could never ask for more than for her to feel fulfilled." 'Considering how much disappointment she'd been through as a child.' Nico's mother added in her thoughts. She'd seen how sensitive and fragile her beloved oldest daughter could be, especially in the wake of her father's untimely passing. Nico's mother wanted to be able to cherish her daughter's smile, and she knew that the smile she wore when she spoke about Maki or her idol group was a genuine one.

"My family is mostly doctors, actually. There are ways now for a woman to have a child...without a husband, or a man, involved..." Maki droned off when she'd felt that she may have said too much, but it seemed to please Nico's mother nonetheless, judging by the way she beamed afterward.

"You don't say? Well, if you two remain together for that long, then please, don't hesitate to do that!"

"Umm, okay?"

"Ah!" Nico's mother suddenly appeared quite embarrassed with herself. She looked to the bus driver, who had been patiently waiting there since the conversation began, and offered him a quick apology before turning to Maki again. "Oh, I've wasted so much of your time, and said so many silly things, I'm sorry! Please, don't let me hold you back here any longer! I just wished to thank you for loving my daughter! I won't make any outrageous requests or anything, just keep doing what you're doing! Oh, and have a good night, Nishikino Maki!"

"Thank you, and I will keep loving her. Y-You have a good night too, ma'am."

Maki climbed onto the bus and, feeling like it was necessary, turned to wave good-bye. Nico's mother offered a small wave on her own before hurriedly departing, running on high-heels in the direction of her family's apartment building. She must have left work early to return home to take care of the younger siblings, or something. Maki assumed that Kokoro was mature enough to do it on her own, but then again, with her aforementioned speech, she may have been a bit childish in her mindset as well.

Maki took a seat a few rows down and slumped into the chair, leaning her head against the window. She felt quite exhausted all of the sudden.

'Even Nico's mom is just too cute,' she thought. It was almost a little scary to imagine a whole family like Nico...the wedding reception would be absolutely insane. She imagined a vast assortment of black-haired and red-eyed little kids, grown women and even grown men all going 'Nico-Nico-Nii' at the exact same time, even performing the pose with perfect accuracy.

Then Maki had to catch herself, growing ever more flustered.

'Wait, why am I thinking about marriage already? This is all Nico's mom's fault!'

Wedding bells and white dresses remained dancing on the top of Maki's brain for the rest of the night, much to her personal vexation.


End file.
